Blood Biomarkers with Charlie Pedlar, PhD | KoopCast Episode #186

View all show notes and timestamps on the KoopCast website.

Episode overview:

Charlie Pedlar, Ph.D. is a researcher at St. Mary’s University in Twickenham, London. He started out as a research assistant for the British Olympic Association based at Northwick Park Hospital. He has since held positions as London Region Lead Physiologist at the English Institute of Sport (primary sport: British Athletics) and Chief Science Officer at Orreco. Charlie was the Director of the Centre for Health, Applied Sport and Exercise Science at St Mary’s between 2009 and 2015. Whilst embedded in high-performance sport, Charlie completed his Ph.D. at Brunel University in 2007 entitled 'Sleep and Exercise during Acclimation and Acclimatization to Moderate Altitude in Elite Athletes, which involved a combination of field data collected during moderate altitude training camps and laboratory data, investigating responses to altitude in the GB national squads for Speed skating, Biathlon, Rowing, Kayaking, and Athletics.

Episode highlights:

(19:19) Necessary biomarkers to track: full blood count (FBC) aka  complete blood count (CBC), ferritin, Vitamin D, nutrition-related markers

(25:30) Standardizing blood tests: timing tests around training and menstrual cycles (continued at 39:41), fasted and rested conditions, guidelines for getting good test data, practicality of standardized blood testing

(54:30) Blood testing and performance: companies don’t know if you are performing well, they can’t tell you what is optimal, retrospective data analysis, health and performance are complementary, athlete intake example

Additional resources:

https://www.orreco.com/

Papers discussed-
A case study of an iron-deficient female Olympic 1500m runner.

Blood biomarker testing for high-performance physiology and nutrition: current perspectives, limitations, and recommendations.

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